Coal has been used for over 100 years to generate thermal electric power. The coal is burned to heat water, which drives a turbine and generates electricity. Coal-fired steam turbine generating plants convert about 30 percent of the coal's energy into electric power. The coal-fired generation of electricity produces tons of air pollutants yearly. The oxides of nitrogen generated upon the burning of coal react with sunlight to form photochemical smog. Sulphates and sulphites released into the atmosphere from the combination react with water vapor in the atmosphere to form sulphurous and sulphuric acid, which returns to earth as an acid rain causing corrosive damage to buildings and other property and requiring millions of dollars of protective maintenance and replacement of damaged property. Due to the unpleasant by-products of coal-fired generated electric power, most of the recently constructed coal-fired generating plants are located in areas of low population density, far from the situs of electrical use. The transmission of the electricity from the situs of manufacture to the situs of use further reduces the efficiency of the conversion process.
Much current research is directed towards alternative ways to extract energy from coal without the air pollution and other problems associated with coal-fired generation of electricity. Research efforts have been directed toward extracting liquid hydrocarbons from coal or converting coal into carbonaceous gases to generate electric power. Although these projects hold promise of reducing the need and dependency on oil for the generation of electricity, the products of the coal gasification and liquefaction research would still involve the burning of the converted product to form electricity. The burning process will still create the oxides of nitrogen and other free-radical smog problems.
Thus, it would be highly desirable to have a process of converting coal into electricity which will minimize or eliminate the generation of air pollutants. It would also be highly desirable to increase the amount of electricity generated from coal.